IT ALL BEGAN HERE: Johari, the first Malay from Sarawak to be commissioned as an army officer, standing in front of the investigation centre which the authorities used during Ops Jemput in 1972 at Jalan Ong Tiang Swee, Kuching. During the operation, he was a military intelligence officer (or MIO) stationed at Sekama police station, Kuching. — Photo by Churchill Edward.
KUCHING: Much has been written about the Ops Sri Aman and the eventual return of insurgents to society in the early 1970s but there was little or no extensive story about how it all began.
It started with the successful Ops Jemput and the effective usage of the communist-owned dead letter boxes (DLB) by the Malaysian security forces to ‘get in touch’ with them in the jungle. The operation completely destroyed the insurgents 330 Combat Unit which had been operating in the southern region of Sarawak.
Before Ops Jemput was launched in 1972, the state’s rural areas were infested with insurgents and subversive elements. Some of them even lived among the folks in major towns.
Even before the formation of Malaysia, the insurgents formed Sarawak Communist Organisation (SCO) and they launched their subversive activities especially in schools and villages in the rural.
When Malaysia was formed in 1963, the then President of Indonesia, the late President Sukarno, was angry and furious with the formation or birth of Malaysia because it had derailed his plan called ‘Indonesia Raya’. ‘Indonesia Raya’ was supposed to be a group of countries in South East Asia which was about to be his domain and under his control.
Almost immediately after the proclamation of Malaysia, Sukarno declared an ‘undeclared war’ of confrontation against the new nation Malaysia. Soon he deployed Indonesian troops along the borders of Sarawak and Kalimantan. This was the beginning of the periodic infiltration of insurgents into Malaysian territory, particularly Sarawak.
The insurgents in Sarawak (or members of SCO), who operated independently before the formation of Malaysia, then seized this opportunity and joined the Indonesian troops. They were said to be trained and armed by the Indonesian troops. Hence the formation of Paraku (North Kalimantan Communist Party or Pasukan Rakyat Kalimantan Utara) in Sarawak. Their existence or presence could be felt along the border.
With a renewed vigour, the insurgents then infiltrated deeper into Sarawak. The 330 Combat Unit was just one of their armed groups.
Back to Ops Jemput, not many realised that Capt (Rtd) Mohd Johari Ibrahim, the first Malay from Sarawak to be commissioned as an army officer, was the one who endured hardship spending a total of around one year in the jungle and leading a team just to get in touch with the insurgents and persuaded them to return to society.
During Ops Jemput, Johari was an MIO (Military Intelligence Officer) for the Malaysian Infantry One Division. He was however attached to the Special Branch unit based at Jalan Sekama police station.
“Now we all can sleep well and we no longer worry of communist threat. But not many know how this peace began. If not for ‘Ops Jemput’, Sarawak might still be fighting the communists today and the economic and social development scenario would not be as it is now,” Johari pointed out when met at an abandoned house in Jalan Ong Tiang Swee here.
“The name of the operation ‘Ops Jemput’ is self explanatory. ‘Jemput’ in Bahasa Melayu is ‘Invite’ in English,” he said while pointing out that the abandoned house in Jalan On Tiang Swee here was one of the centres where security officers probed insurgents who had returned to society.
The significance of the initial phase of the operation was that Johari’s team managed to locate most of the dead letter boxes (DLBs) where insurgents placed their secret messages and instructions. The DLBs which could be in the form of a peculiar tree, for instance, were found along a stretch from Lundu until Sri Aman. Johari said they used such DLBS to lure the insurgents out from hiding and come out to join society.
After they had placed ‘instructions’ in the DLBs urging the insurgents to go to certain places, Johari and his team then waited for days patiently in the jungle, eating only dehydrated food and without proper sleep.
He related that they could not make any major movement of their limbs, fearing that the insurgents might flee or return into the deep jungle upon sensing unfamiliar territory or the worst to happen if he and his men were to get shot.
“Not only we have to stand still while waiting patiently, we also have to endure the onslaughts from leeches and mosquitoes in the jungle. Then there was also the risk that we might get shot anytime,” he said.
The insurgents indeed read the instructions and they proceeded to the designated places where they were ‘trapped’. However since the security force’s idea was to bring them back into society, the insurgents were ‘persuaded’ to come out of the jungle.
They were later sent to the probe centre in Jalan Ong Tiang Swee where they were treated with kindness and in return they gave out more information about their colleagues and their locations or other information required by security forces.
Johari can be said to have played a key role in helping to make a breakthrough into the enemy organisation that Third Infantry Malaysian Brigade and/or the Sarawak Special Branch were waiting for.
He said before Ops Jemput was launched, a drama unfolded in Jalan Sekama police station where he was an MIO.
On that fine day in 1972, Johari stayed late in his office when the telephone suddenly rang.
He answered the call. At the other end of the line was a police personnel from Tebedu who reported that three insurgents had come out of the jungle and wanted to speak to an officer.
Johari conveyed the report to his superior, the then head of the Special Branch Sarawak Tan Sri Yuen Yuet Leng who immediately permitted the MIO to go and contact the three insurgents and obtain some intelligence materials.
Johari took with him one field intelligence officer (FIO) and proceeded to Tebedu, taking great risk that the information might be a trap.
It was that success that led to greater success and eventual defeat of the 330 Combat Unit which operated in the jungle of southern Sarawak.
With adequate information from the Tebedu trio who hailed from Indonesia, Johari managed to talk his way to his superiors on the launch of an operation to trace the DLBs which the Paraku had used effectively to communicate between their combat units in the jungle.
He said the then Third Brigade Commander General Tan Sri Ghazali Mohd Seth was also informed of the initial report about the Tebedu trio.
The operation, in which Johari was very much involved in, instead used the DLBs to their favour. They used the DLBs to send ‘instructions’ urging insurgents to meet and gather at specified places where they were persuaded to come to society.
There were all together 300 DLBs along the border. These were where instructions were passed and chanelled to the various combat units. The furthest end of the operation even reached Kampung Sakura in Kalimantan, an area where 330 Combat Unit also operated subversively.
The initial phase of Ops Jemput conducted jointly by the Malaysian and Indonesian forces on top of a Special Branch Team from Kuala Lumpur along the border resulted in the destruction of 330 Combat Unit.
The success of Ops Jemput also forced Paraku headquarters to move to Sarawak side of the border that eventually led to Paraku headquarters -First Bureau NKCP’s return to society in Ops Sri Aman in 1973. This brought peace to Kuching and the then Simanggang divisions. ‘NKCP’ stands for North Kalimantan Communist Party and the group comprised insurgents from Sarawak and Kalimantan Barat.
Johari, who operated with the Special Branch Team from Kuala Lumpur in Ops Jemput, had risked his life on several occasions when he confronted Paraku personnel face to face.
He was the local hero from Sarawak who played a key role, risked his life and helped bring the First Bureau NKCP to its end.
Johari, 62, hails from Kampung Hulu Sri Aman. He is married to Jaenah Amin and they have four children. He now lives in Kampung Gersik in Petra Jaya here.
“More than 40 years have passed. The members of the initial phase of Ops Jemput are conveniently forgotten. Apparently there is no effort to trace these OPs Jemput members which were made of personnel from VAT 69 or Malaysian police commando team and Indonesian commando (or RPKTNI) team,” Johari said. VAT 69 then was led by Supt Leong Chee Wah while Johari himself led the operation.
Johari appealed to the government to start an effort to locate his team members and render the recognition due to them.
He pointed out that without Ops Jemput there might not be an Ops Sri Aman.